Zeo: Regeneration
by Samusreign
Summary: On the planet, Arpolik, an overlord called Catastrophe has taken over the world and plans on conquering the rest of the universe. A mysterious blue warrior gathers a band of unlikely heroes in an attempt to stop the evil from becoming invincible.
1. Chapter 1: From up above

Zeo. It was the word I had become obsessed with and wanted to know more about after I saw the man in blue. He wore a mask with a triangle pointed downwards over his eyes. I took them to be some sort of black lenses. His body suit was skin tight but made electrical noises if you got close enough to hear it. Golden circuitry ran around his neck and on his chest. The speed which he moved was incredible. His strength was inhuman. Holsters hugged his hips and on either side was a blade and pistol with such a strange design it had to have been technology from Kendor or maybe Irnlava. No one can create things like that here on Arpolik.

Maybe he's an alien himself. I told my sister, Landra that someone would save us one day. Someone would come and destroy Catastrophe and his sentinel droids. His advantage over us is due to his strength, speed, and ability to create disciples by the use of his hammer staff, a weapon he never let out of his sight. Every time I see that thing glow, I shiver inside and pray he won't inflict it on Landara or I. But I think that's why the Blue man is here. I believe he is our prayers finally answered.

Line after line after line of conveyor belts lined up all around us and the other slaves. We did what we always do for seventeen hours of the day; assemble more droids and weapons so that Catastrophe and his men can go and conquer other planets. If one were to ever disrupt the flow of the work on the assembly line, you were beaten to the point of paralysis. They didn't kill you because there was always the chance you could heal. If you did, they could put you right back to work.

But faster production was being enforced as of late. Due to that, we were told no accidents would be tolerated under penalty of death. Needless to say, this made many tremble when working or lapse into uncontrollable attacks of panic. One man bit down on his lip so hard, he pierced right through his skin. He hadn't even realized it until drops of his own blood rained upon the droid limbs he was supposed to insert screws into. Another woman had sliced her arm with the factory's needle shifter calibrator. She held onto her scream and tears streamed down her cheeks. She continued on working the rest of that day and wound up dying soon after from an infection.

Landra fell today when she had to carry a crate of silver and gold droid arms and legs by herself. She tripped on a fallen metallic limb and keeled over, dropping all that she carried. Everyone paused to look at her and when they did, the droids marched with such stern determination; I knew they were on their way to killing her. I ran to Landra before the droids did and tried getting her back up on her feet. I turned to the oncoming droids and tried to explain that she was going to be reprimanded by me. I may as well have been a cardboard cutout with how they grabbed my shoulder and threw me to the side, over three conveyor belts and I landed on my back, hitting my head against the concrete floor.

Landra screamed and tried running away but was not quick enough before one of the droids grabbed her arm and raised its gleaming axe over its head.

"Let her go!" I heard the yell from above me. The workers and I looked upwards in unison and there he was--the blue man descending upon us with his shrill war cry and two blades in his hands over his head. He swung them and cut right down the middle of the droid, immobilizing it for just a few seconds before it parted down the middle and lightning sparks danced between its two halves.

"Couldn't put him back together again," said the blue man.

Everyone stood in awe and restrained jubilance at the sight of this costumed man. He proceeded to kick one of the droids in the neck and then sweeped it off its metallic stilts of a leg. It fell to the ground with a large clanging noise and just as it tried to get up, the blue man sliced down the middle of the droid and then right across.

"Who else needs to a cut?" he said with an excitement in his voice I hadn't heard in years.

The two last droids ran towards the blue man who then jumped onto one of the moving conveyor belts. He ran away from the two droids who followed a few feet behind him. They swung their axes towards him and what seemed just by pure instinct alone, he ducked without even looking. The first passed over his head and he reached up into the air and grabbed the second one. In one swift motion, he spun and threw the axe right back at its previous owner and it chopped its head off right from its body. Fuses shorted out from the droid's neck until finally it fell backwards.

The last droid climbed up onto the conveyor belt, marching faster than before over to the ocean blue warrior who just stood where he was, waiting for the robot to come after him. I almost yelled to tell him to move but before I could say anything, the man leapt up into the air. Had I not been there, I wouldn't have believed how high up he had gotten. He flipped over the droid and ended up on the other side of it. He tapped it on its shoulder and the droid turned to meet the two blades. They sliced horizontally through its torso. The sparks ignited in front of the masked hero but he stood there, almost waiting for the droid to explode and when it did, the man turned around nonchalantly to face us, the slaves, the onlookers, the spectators, and the hopefuls.

He jumped off the conveyor belt and went for Landra who had been watching the whole thing on her side from the floor with a look of complete disbelief. The man in blue stood before her and placed his hand to the side of her head.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a whisper so low that had it not been for the deafening silence from us all, I could not hear.

Landra nodded and gulped. Her eyes coalesced a pool of saline and the river fell down her cheeks. "Thank you," she cried. "Thank you so so so much." She hugged him tightly and it was obvious, he was not used to praise by how his hands did not immediately hug her right back.

I ran over to the two along with everyone now who wanted to crowd around the mysterious stranger. They cheered and cried and gathered before him. Our new messiah, my new hope. He looked around the crowd and simply nodded in recognition of their thanks. They patted him on the back while others simply wanted to touch his arm, hand or whatever part of his body they could graze their fingers upon. I managed to push my way through the crowd and stood in front of the stranger for a moment. And in that moment, I could swear he was staring at me behind those black lenses. Not in a negative way or even confrontational but just more—curious.

"She should be okay," he said to me. He put his white gloved hand out and I paused for a moment. What would happen if I shook his hand? I reached out and grabbed his hand and shook.

I turned to my sister and asked if she was okay. She smile and nodded then hugged me tight.

"I'm sorry folks, I should go," the blue warrior said.

They wailed for him not to leave them. Cries of the elder women outweighed those of the younger ones. Our savior incarnate did not know how to leave the surrounding mob around him.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'll be watchful over all of you and make sure order is brought back to the way it should be."

"What is your name, champion?" said a small woman with a beat up old rosary held tight within her hands.

"My name. My name is—Zeo Ranger Blue."

The crowd whispered Zeo and others yelled, "Hail, ZEO!"

And with that, he jumped in the air with his arms stretched up above him. A streak of blue light arced over the crowd and out into the gray dim sky. Everyone continued to look up as did my sister who called out to me, "Wasn't that amazing?"

I, however was the only one not looking up but down at my palm, the one that shook Zeo Ranger Blue's. My sister looked over my shoulder and read the ink left in my hand.

"Sail dock, two hours."

Landra shook her head. "What does it mean, Jacob?"

"I—I think he wants to meet me."


	2. Chapter 2: Rendevouz

Landra wouldn't hear of me going by myself to the shipping docks on the edge of the city. I personally think it was because she wanted to meet Zeo Blue. She couldn't stop talking about how heroic he was and how strong he must have been to take out the droids. I tried not to show my disgust at my sister's new crush.

After a few minutes of bickering back and forth, I noticed we had arrived. Landra was good at distracting me to get her way.

"All right, just uh, keep a lookout for the droids. This might be a setup."

"A setup?" she asked a little too loudly.

"SHH! Why is your mouth so big?" I whispered.

"A setup?" she asked in a high whisper. I rolled my eyes and crouched by the corners of the sheds that ran along the docks.

The mossy, green water drifted against the columns where the dilapidated boats were tied to. No one had been in the water in years. After Catastrophe showed up with his ship, a strange pollution came over the environment; the murky, putrid water was now officially bad for everyone. We had constant acid rain which made the skies either a shade of swamp green or dull gray. We hadn't seen the sun in years. If the droids didn't end up killing you, nature would end up taking its course on you faster than usual. I had heard of a time when people could grow to be as old as 74. People could barely reach 32 now because we didn't have the right nutrients to survive.

"We don't know if this Zeo guy is a trick. He could be with Catastrophe," I said.

"Then why would he even save us in the first place?"

"Who knows? I mean, why would someone just suddenly come out and save us? Why now? Where did this guy come from?"

"I think a better question would be where is he now."

I scanned the area. The dead limb trees by the docks made me wary if Zeo blue was waiting along the branches that resembled veins protruding high up into the depressing sky. The area was too quiet. The smell from the water and seaweed was pungent. Landra took a few fast paces past me, shaking her head. "This is ridiculous. If he wants to get rid of us, then he can do it already. No point in killing us now when he could have already."

"Landra," I whispered loudly and tried reaching for her arm to return to me. "Dammit you stubborn woman! " I had no choice but to follow along.

The two of us stopped on the boardwalk next to an old beaten down yacht when we heard a high pitched swishing sound. We both turned around to look at our surroundings. My heart shot up my chest and my stomach descended faster than an anvil in one of those old cartoons with the bunny and the hunter.

Another swishing came from behind us and then in front. Pretty soon it came from all around and my sister grabbed a hold of my arm. "Stay close," I said.

There were blurred figures that flashed right by us. I only caught glimpses of their frame but I knew they were made of metal. Gusts of wind sprayed me and Landra until one of the figures stopped before us. It was one of Catastrophe's droids. All of them suddenly stopped and when I looked around, there were four of them together. Each had long saber weapons with silver handles and red ribbon wrapped around it. Their eyes illuminated a cold green. Each of their eyes flashed randomly. They just stood there. I anticipated the stroke of their blades, cutting us down across our chests or slicing our heads from the neck.

But they continued to stand there. Possibly awaiting orders, I thought.

"Jacob? Why aren't they moving?"

I shook my head and shrugged, too panicked to think of any logical answer. "Maybe they are malfunctioning."

The two droids in front of us attacked simultaneously. Their blades moved parallel to one another. I pulled Landra down and we ducked, centimeters away from the blades slicing off our torso's diagonally across. I pushed Landra behind me and she stumbled back, yelling and hiding behind a barrel only a few feet from the edge of the dock.

The droid to my right slashed the air in front of me and I maneuvered to his side, grabbing his cold, metallic hands around the blade and trying to get him to stab himself. It proved useless as I realized their strength far outweighed any normal human, especially one who was on a diet of grub and small ounces of water a day like myself. The other droid spun his blade towards me and I was able to at least maneuver the immovable droid's sword toward the attack. I stayed behind the droid who fought in front of me trying to block his partner's moves His partner persisted in marching toward us with complete disregard for his fellow droid blocking me, without having much choice. Finally, the partner drilled his saber into my blocking droid and nearly impaled me.

My blocking droid keeled over. Sparks and fire exploded from his chest. I grabbed his saber from his loose hands and took cover away from it before he exploded into a spectacular ball of green fire taking the droid's partner along with him. I rolled onto my side and before I could stand, the two final droids started after me.

I have never used a weapon before, let alone been in a fight. The saber in my hand felt like it was tearing off my wrists from its weight. I hauled the saber over my shoulder and prepared a stance for the oncoming attack of the droids. Without looking I slashed down at the space in front of me, sensing them approaching a few feet away. For a moment, the saber felt light and moved with such speed, I thought I had been holding a plastic toy. It came down hard and true upon the droid's shoulder. When the saber cut down through the droid's arm, it became lodged near its midsection. I couldn't pull the saber out of its armored body. We moved in circles; the droid trying to pull its damaged body away and me trying to pull out my only means of defense.

A sonic digital cry came from behind me. The noise came from the last droid who tried slashing me away from the saber. I ducked and swerved around the droids attacks while still holding onto the saber's handle. Never had I thought I could move how I did, but when death is on the line, nothing is out of the question.

I did not know how much longer I could have lasted dodging the attacks before finally being struck down. Before I realized it, the attacking droid made a motion to ram his saber through my back. I heard loud footsteps coming fast behind us and heard Landra yell, "SIDE!" Hearing just that word, I let go of the handle of the saber and darted to the side. Landra's feet came in contact with the attacking droids back and he stumbled forward, skewering the already damaged droid. The handle of the immovable saber piereced its way into the attacking droid's sternum and the two were locked together in a death embrace. A few of their wires sparked before a massive explosion erupted. I looked away and so did Landra, who lay on the ground covering her head. The debris of metal struck my neck and feet a few times but luckily nothing sharp fell onto me.

As the explosion subsided and there was nothing left but a crinkling fire, I looked to see if Landra was okay. She was sitting up from where she lay and looked upon the fire with shock. I got to my feet and ran over to her. She stared at the fire and I shook her by her shoulders to snap out of it. She did and chuckled nervously.

"That was….scary," she said.

"Let's get out of here," I said.

I pulled her up to her feet. Her ankle looked a bit bruised so I put her arm around my neck and helped her walk. A sudden applause came from the distance and we both paused to see where it came from. Landra and I looked up and saw four people clapping beyond the smoke.

One of them was an older man with short, thin hair wearing flannel blue, some clean blue jeans, and brown boots, none of these clothing I have seen in years but only strewn about on the streets, ripped and old. The other three looked around the ages of Landra and I; two guys and 1 girl who I remembered lived in my borough. Occasionally, we would nod to each other as that was the only way to communicate nowadays. I had never gotten their names but knew them only by their faces and identification numbers sewn onto our clothes.

One of the guys was #107. He was about my height, around 5'10. His hair was long and dirty but kept together with a single string wrapped around. He was a foster child who lost his parents a little after he was born. For years, I had seen him living from one home to the other. Not because he was problematic but because his new foster parents were always called upon for "camp work." Typically, if you were sent there, that meant you would never be seen by another living person again.

The other guy, #234 was shorter, maybe Landra's height of 5'5. His hair was kept short and spiky all around. I remember seeing him a few times around my borough and occasionally would nod to him. His frame was small but he was pretty well toned. His family received a certain kind of privilege due to his sister being a servant of Catastrophe himself. However, rumors circulated wildly that she was never the same and she would spend her days in his ship either howling to die or sobbing uncontrollably.

The young woman, #912, happened to be the girl I had feelings for since the day I saw her. Her family used to rule the planet years ago. However, when Catastrophe took over, he killer her grandparents and sent the rest of her family to work. The men in her family tended to be put to death. The women were sent to work or to do any other biddings Catastrophe commanded, many of it were too horrible to imagine.

The man in the flannel walked over to us and shouted, "Good job, you two. I figured I had chosen the right ones."

"Who…who are you?" I yelled in anger. "You nearly got us killed!"

He placed his hand upon his heart. "You know me as Zeo Ranger Blue," he said. "My name is Billy. Billy Cranston.


	3. Chapter 3: Recipe for Catastrophe

My feet responded faster than my mouth when I suddenly found myself running towards Billy Cranston, the man who called himself Zeo Ranger Blue. My hands reached to grab a hold of him. He took a small step to his right and I missed him by several inches. I swung my arms in an attempt to hit him, cursing his actions for nearly getting Landra and myself killed. The three from my borough held me back as my arms kept gesticulating.

Billy walked over to me and laid his hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said. His right wrist revealed a gold and black device too large to tell time. I glanced towards his other arm and saw another device that was silver and gold with a circle in its center, perhaps jewelry or family heirloom.

"You weren't aware but I was in control of those droids the entire time. They wouldn't have killed you."

"What kind of a way is that to treat visitors?" I yelled. "My sister could have been caught in the blast."

"Chalk it up to intuition, I guess," Billy laughed in a jovial manner. "I knew you and your sister would make it out fine and from what I saw, I chose correctly."

"For what?" I growled.

His eyebrow arched. "Can these three let you go?"

My muscles loosened up and my breathing slowed down. I nodded and the three let me go one at a time. Landra walked over to me with a concerned look. She turned to Billy and slapped him across the face.

"How dare you put me and my brother through that?" She seethed.

"Apparently the two of you are equally as dangerous," Billy said, rubbing his cheek.

"I trusted you, telling my brother that you were a hero to our people and you try and kill us?"

"I think you had probably come up with another way to do initiations, Billy," #107 said. His grip on me loosened and I pulled away from him and the rest of them.

"He do the same thing to you all too?" I asked.

They nodded. #912 said, "I ran away when I first saw them but the droids wouldn't let me escape. I didn't have much of a choice." She placed a strand of her short, auburn hair behind her ear. Her lips were fuller than any girl I had ever seen. Most women do not have the natural beauty in my society now. But everyone spoke of her highness' beauty behind closed doors. I was one of them.

#107 spoke, "When he told me what his intention was, I took a couple swings at him myself but as you can see, the doc here has some moves."

I looked over to #234, who had his mouth closed so tight, I thought his teeth would crack. "And you?" I asked. "What did he do to you?"

He shook his head and looked away. "I just went through what you did and passed the same way. That's about it." He shrugged.

I could tell with the way Landra gazed at #234, this was her new crush. I guess I could understand why, I mean the guy had a pretty fit body and dark brown eyes. Landra always had a thing for tall, dark and…well guys in general. She's a complete romantic at heart.

I turned to Billy who was still adjusting his jaw. "What was the point of this?" I asked. "What was the purpose of this whole thing?"

"There was a good reason for it," he said. "Trust me."

"You better start with trying to gain my trust again after what you pulled."

"I suppose that's fair enough. " He walked past me and the rest of the group towards a shed near the edge of the tree line. "But it would be better to show you what I'm talking about."

The group started following after him. I reached for #107's arm. "Wait, where is he going?"

He smiled and said, "To show you how you can save the world." #107 walked away with the rest of the group. Landra stepped next to me and we both stared wondering if we should trust them to see what they wanted.

"Should we?" she asked. "Not like it can get any worse, really."

I stared at her and exhaled. "Sure, death isn't so bad," I said." I mean if you figure, we either die by Catastrophe's droids or by a strange group of guys led by a supposed hero. I think dying in a unique way might change things up."

Landra shook her head. "Why can't you just give a simple answer?"

"I'm a brother. I'm not supposed to make things easy. Besides, you just wanna go for the cute guy."

"And you don't want the cute girl who you've been drooling over ever since we were kids."

"You bite your tongue," I said in a grave tone.

We walked behind the group towards the shed. We entered into the humid, dilapidated, housing of the Zeo ranger blue. What was inside looked similar to many old time houses that hadn't been touched in decades; old brown stained sofas, broken-in televisions, disheveled cabinets and shelves and broken windows with several boards nailed across to keep attackers from looking into the shed. An old rug that smelled of oil and bleach lay to the side of the wall. Billy walked over to it and picked it up and threw it off to the side revealing a plank. He unlocked the hinge keeping it closed and raised it up. There were stairs that led to a basement.

Landra and I glanced at each other and walked down the stairs with unease. In the basement, were arrays of gadgets that flickered and made strange, distorted noises. Devices I had never seen before had swirling lights and rhythmic beeping. Along the three connected walls was a large semi-circle control panel similar to the ones I saw once in the droid security control room. All of the machines had been made out of old junk people threw away. I wondered how long it took Billy to construct such a foundation.

"This is our base of operations," Billy said.

"Or Boo," #107 said. "Get it, because the letters that it begins with are B.O.O?" He chuckled by himself as we all stared at him. No words were uttered. His laughs turned into whimpers and he shook his shoulders. "_I_ thought it was funny.

Billy walked over to the semi-circle controls and punched in a few buttons that beeped. A homemade screen that took up half the wall came up from behind the control panel, squeaking as it ascended.

An image of a humanoid appeared before the screen holding a staff with an enlarged hammer on its end. The humanoid wore black armor all around and half of his face was human while the other had wires and circuits running and flashing lights. A thick mane of long black hair cascaded down the side of his human face. The screen's image was somewhat snowy with static but overall amazing given what he was working with.

"As you know," Billy began," many years ago, Catastrophe invaded Arpolik and enslaved its inhabitants. His goal is to absorb all of this planet's resources and finally destroy what's left." Images of what were once beautiful fields that had now become rotten wastelands flashed before us.

"So far, I've estimated that Catastrophe has destroyed four out of the six galaxies surrounding this one." The screen popped up with images of what I believe was to be of space. Small stars filled the screen and large debris cluttered in some areas in what we learned was once planets. "His army is near on destroying the fifth one and this one will be his last. In just a little over a month, Catastrophe will have destroyed the entire universe."

"What _is_ Catastophe, though? Where did he come from?" Landra asked, holding back some apprehension in her voice.

Billy functioned the controls and a video emerged and began playing what looked to be very old footage inside what looked to be a containment area with bars. Unlike what we use now which are lasered barricades.

"What you're seeing here," Billy said, "is footage I was able to gather from a planet called Earth, my planet. Several years ago, scientists were utilizing prisoners for experiments in exchange for early release. I have yet to discover the name of one of the prisoners other than he was inmate #919. His involvement in the experiments was apparently intricate to its success."

"What experiment?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

The inmate on screen had long, greasy, black hair and wore an orange jumpsuit. His face could barely be seen and his body lay on a kind of stretcher, though his arms, legs and forehead were tied down. He struggled to free himself but could not escape. Several small machines surrounded him. On the side of the room he was kept in was a large machine divided into what looked to be 5 different units, each of them very high tech in its own right but at the same time, primitive to what we used to have on Arpolik.

A man with a long white coat came before the screen. His name was stitched over his heart and it read, Dr Nordstrom.

"This is study 4 dash 5. We are continuing our study with patient 6. All other patients have currently deceased from several side effects that have ranged from massive brain hemorrhaging, rapid increase in blood pressure, and instant cardiac arrest. We believe with patient 6, we have solved our problems and hope that because of his neurological factors, he will be able to withstand the upload of information. We will begin first with a steady stream of data at 4,000 megahertz."

The scientist walked over to the corner of the room while the other scientists turned dials on the machines and pressed certain buttons. The patient on the stretcher screamed to be released. His screeches increased when the scientists poked several long needles into the back of his neck. The patient's screamed turned into loud grunts. Several crunches of bones could be heard. Landra and #912 turned away at the sound. The rest of us looked on. The lights in the room suddenly started fuzzing. The patient's body started convulsing with sudden leaps and painful contortions. A whirring sound in the background became louder with each turn of the dial they made.

"Increase the upload to 12,000," Dr Nordstrom said.

After several seconds, the patient's body became as rigid as a board. His back arched in such a way that it's bones should have shattered from the stress being put on it.

"Give it full speed," the doctor shouted.

For a few seconds, the whirring reached its highest point. Then the lights in the room shut off. Silence came over the room for several seconds as we all watched to see what happened. The scientists shouted several words, not all of them could be understood though.

"……what about the fuel cells?...............53 Per--…………and it got it…….striker line on four…….blew the fuse……..can we get a light……."

The room on screen illuminated again. Patient #919 was sitting up on his stretcher and his hair draped over his face. The scientists leaped back in shock and fear. Dr. Nordstrom walked over to the patient slowly and asked, "Do you know who you are?""

Silence.

"Are you aware of what just happened?"

Silence…..

"Are you oka--?"

The patient's hand suddenly reached out for Dr. Nordstrom's neck and with only two fingers, twisted the doctor's vocal cords. The doctor fell to the ground and his eyes bulged out for assistance. The other scientists scrambled to exit the room but the doors would not open.

"The locks are on!" shouted one of the scientists.

"Electronic," said the patient in a deep whisper that made my skin crawl. He tapped the side of his head with his index finger. The next sound that came from him made all of us watching tense up. His laugh came out deep and strange, almost…digital.

He proceeded in attacking the scientists by throwing them to the side of the room or with just his fingers, snapped their spinal cords, poked out their eyes and dragged them by their sockets. After several seconds of trying to continue watching, Billy turned off the video.

Landra and 912 covered their faces and quietly sobbed. I, on the other hand, did not know until a few seconds past that my mouth was open in horror and that my eyes must not have blinked for some time since they felt very dry. I shook my head and finally took a breath.

"What—what did they do to him?"

Billy turned to us and sighed. "The scientists were working on combining robotic intelligence with human DNA. Specifically, they were trying to advance the human mind and see if it can reach its potential by uploading information directly into the brain. The patient on the video is now, Catastrophe. Over the years, he restructured his body to resemble what he considered his mind had become; stronger, advanced, and perfect. He applied bionic implants and advanced circuitries throughout his body. After some time, he believed there was more life on other galaxies and after conquering my planet…" Billy paused and cleared his throat. "Catastrophe built a ship and took his army throughout the universe wreaking havoc."

"My God…" I whispered. We were being controlled by a psychotic killer.

Landra's voice came out in a strained whisper. "Billy, how did you come here to Arpolik? Why was your world taken over?"

Billy exhaled. "My planet had no defense for what Catastrophe had in mind. He was more ruthless than anything they had ever seen. I wasn't on my planet when it was attacked however. "

"Oh?" #912 said, surprised at the fact. "You never told us where you came from."

"I left Earth years before and settled on a planet called Aquitar. I made a home for myself with the people there and found peace. It wasn't until Catastrophe arrived that there that I began researching what happened there. I—I lost everyone I cared about there. I tried searching for my friends back on Earth but heard nothing. So I decided to follow Catastrophe and see where he would go. By the time I arrived on Arpolik, he had already done much damage. But I don't think it's too late."

"Well what is it that you expect us to do?" Landra asked.

#107 turned and a small smile crept across his face. "Billy thinks he has a way to stop Catastrophe."

Billy crouched under the control panel and slid a drawer to the side. He pulled out a small black crate and stood in the center of all of us. The latches unlocked on their own and he lifted the cover to reveal devices. Small devices like the ones he had on his wrist.

"I need a team of Zeo Rangers." Billy said, "And I want that team to be you."


	4. Chapter 4: Zeo Ranger Five, Stand up

Landra stared at me from across the table, sipping her porridge as the spoon in her hand kept missing her mouth.

"Ya know, it works better if you look at what you're eating," I said.

"Have you given it any thought?"

An hour ago, my sister and I along with three others in my borough were called, by request, to undertake a task: Become the saviors of our world.

Be that even if the idea of being able to save the world is such a radical and amazing idea, it dawned on me quite quickly what this entailed; sacrifice, paranoia, double lives, loss of sleep and appetite(as I have just realized) and a slight risk of death. At the thought of becoming a cynic, I tried to focus on the positive aspects of this too, what could come from saving the world which included; pride, freedom,and justice. But what I was interested in was the simplest of human emotions; revenge.

Now, she and I sat back in our reservation after having been able to unbelievably teleport back home. Billy had said that he discovered how to do this back on Earth and not only that, but that he improved upon it by being able to scan the areas where the teleported would arrive in case there was a crowd.

"I thought maybe something more than an hour would be good to give this some time to think about," I said. I took a sip of something that passed for water and swallowed down grimly.

"I just don't understand what there is to think about. Billy is giving us an opportunity to stop living like slaves and stop Catastrophe. What? Are you actually fine living like this?"

"I didn't say I was fine with anything. I just need to think okay?" The last word came out with a little more frustration than I wanted to show.

Landra huffed and quietly spun the spoon in her bowl. The quiet during our meal was deafening. In the distance, I could hear blasts of gun powder and explosions, people crying, and a woman howling, "No, please don't, no." It used to terrify Landra and I growing up but it has become something of a norm to hear at night. It didn't mean we were less frightened of it though.

"What did Billy tell you in the other room?"

I didn't answer her. I had thought back about what Billy told me when he asked me to go upstairs with him in private. The proposition he had offered us had still left me dazed before he told me the next big thing to me.

"There was something I wanted to talk to you about, Jacob."

"Besides what you just asked?"

Billy gave a little smile. "Every team needs a leader and from what I've seen, I really do believe it should be you."

My eyes darted from left to right and I chuckled nervously. "That's uh… that isn't really wise, Billy. I mean, I don't know how to fight let alone lead."

"I need someone who puts others before himself. Being a leader doesn't mean not being afraid, it means doing what needs to be done. Out of you five, it has to be you. You have what it takes."

"No, no I don't. I don t understand why it should be me. Why not you? You're already Zeo Blue."

"Someone has to watch out for you all in battle and plan strategies to taking down Castatrophe's empire. I need someone who I can trust out on the field who has the strength and integrity. "

I shook my head profusely and wouldn't hear of it. "Billy, I'm sorry. I just can't do it. I...I'm sorry."

When I returned I saw the others awaiting me as though they knew what Billy wanted to talk me about. I said noting to them as Billy returned downstairs. Everyone accepted the devices in the chest called Zeonizers. Before I left, Billy made me promise to think over the offer and attached the zeonizer to my wrists.

"I don't feel like eating anymore," I said. I ran my hand through my hair and exhaled, pushing my supper away from me. Landra shrugged, looking down at her half eaten meal. "

Why are you scared?" she asked.

I groaned and stood up, beginning to pace around our small 12x20 room. Our beds on either sides of the wall could have used new sheets. They overran with bits of bed bugs that we tried to rid of by cleaning it with what little water we received each day. New sheets were not provided unless someone in the next reservation died and the list of us on hold was quite long.

"It's one thing to start an uprising with hundreds to thousands of people, Landra. But Billy wants five of us to take on Catastrophe and his entire army. I mean, what makes him think it can be done?"

Landra stood up and walked over to me. Her feet made no noise as she crossed over the wooden planks. "Don't you remember what he told us of his experience? Him being a power ranger back on Earth. He and his friends stopped wicked forces before and they succeeded."

"Yes but none of them were slaves like us. They didn't have a psychotic, homicidal, dictator killing families, and the children as slaves. Their world wasn't destroyed until Catastrophe came along. Where were the rangers? Why couldn't they defend against him?"

"I… I don't know."

I scratched the back of my head and continued pacing back and forth in our room. "It's a lot to ask of us."

"There is a lot at stake, Jacob. What do you expect?"

I took a seat on our small table and rested my elbows on my knees. My head lowered into my cupped hands. I pulled out my necklace that hung around my neck and rubbed the reverman's fang that dangled from it. It was the only thing my father left me before he died. When I was a child, he and I hunted for food after curfew in the woods. The portion we received from the empire never sufficed and my father took it upon himself to get what he called, "real home cooking." He had his ways of getting around security in order to get to the woods. He was a very resilient man.

One night when we were out looking for anything to bring home to roast, my dad and I ran into a pack of revermen, a creature with the body of a bear and head of a hyena. They shrieked when they took notice of us. My father yelled for me to run and so we did. We dashed past what felt like hundreds of trees. The branches broke under my feet and the snarls of the revermen sounded like they were on the back of my neck. I hadn't noticed until moments later that I didn't see my father or the revermen anymore. I called out my father's name in a hushed voice. The screeching of the revermen echoed through the woods. It soon followed with my dad bellowing a war cry of his own. Without thinking, I ran towards the source of the yelling and heard my father scrams of rage growing louder.

When I reached my father, he had been soaking in blood from head to toe; claw marks had scratched across chest and thighs. His left hand had been broken and contorted in such an unnatural way. His right eye was full of blood and spewing down his cheeks. I couldn't bear to look away even though I was horrified to see my father in such a way. Three reverman's bodies surrounded him. One of them had their necks completely twisted backwards, another had his jaw propped open indefinitely while the last one had a chunk of flesh under his neck ripped off.

My father fell to his knees and held himself up with one arm while the other dangled lifeless. I raced over to him and placed his good arm over my neck. Before we left, he shook his head and strained to say with a chuckle, "We…we gotta get a souvenir for this one."

I thought he was delirious, talking nonsense. Sure enough, though, he limped away from me and went over to the open mouth reverman. I wondered what he would take and noticed him slip his hand around one of the reverman's fangs and began to pull. He strained with what strength he had left and seconds later, tore off the fang. Specks of bone jumped into my dad's face but he sputtered and spit it out. He gave a tired laugh and held up the fang with such pride. My father reminded me of a war hero coming home from a victorious battle. Even with all the wounds he had sustained and no way to carry the revermen for food, he did not see this as a Pyrrhic victory.

I held the reverman's fang whenever I was looking for guidance and I needed it now. I needed to now what my dad would do. But I already knew the answer to that. He would have accepted the offer and gone straight to fight Catastrophe on the spot. But my valor didn't match my father's. It was what got him killed in the first place when he stood up to one of Catastrophe's gofers, Ruiner. My father's heart was ripped out in front of Landra and myself. We were able to do nothing about it and were forced to get right back to work after it happened.

"What is dad telling you to do?" Landra asked.

I sighed looked up at Landra. "Give them hell."

I flicked my right wrist and the electronic shape of a star hovered over my hands. My zeonizers appeared around my wrists and I studied them; held them and felt the grooves on its surface.

I accepted my fate.

I would be Zeo Ranger Five.


	5. Chapter 5: Power Source

***Sorry for not posting the next chapter sooner. My sis just had a baby and I'm kind of enjoying the whole uncle thing. Plus, work is bleh. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the next chapter. You won't be disappointed.

DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN ANY POWER RANGERS COPYRIGHTS. I JUST LIKE TO WRITE IT.

Two days had passed since we all had seen Billy. The last time we met, he told us of his plan. An insane plan but it was one that had to work. Before we could begin with it though, he wanted us to try out our powers. He told us of a facility thirteen miles southwest of our camp. The entire factory was run by droids and was a pivotal factor in the operation to absorb the planet's energy. So not only was this going to be a test run, but if successful, we would have blown a crack in Catastrophe's operations.

In the past few days, the rest of the group and I seldom spoke to one another. We had been nervous about keeping our identities secret even though no one knew there were any new Zeo rangers anyway. Several times, I would pass by #107 or #234 and we would exchange some nods or glances but that was all. #912, however, would sometimes catch me staring at her. Often she would be lifting heavy loads of coal or trinexium rocks. I would return back to work when she caught me. I had hoped she would think this to be cute. But often she would either motion with her face to stop looking at her or that I should get back to work or else I would punished and sent for torture.

Seriously, she had a look for the last one.

On my way to get water from the well, I noticed #234 coming up to me and standing behind me in line.

He whispered, "Meet in 2 at SW. We start."

I nodded and proceeded to take my drink from the well as one of the droids with his twin blades crossed over him stared at me. I drank more water than I should have but I didn't want it to think I was nervous. If it could see through me, it would have noticed my heart ready to burst.

I wiped my mouth with the end of my sleeve and walked away, continuing to haul the crates of stones over to section B-7.

Later in our quarters, Landra and I prepared ourselves for the moment we were waiting for.

She looked at me with restrained jubilation and could not stop moving.

"You're making me nervous. Could you stop?" I said.

"I can't help it. This is so exciting. We are actually gonna do this. Can you believe it? Us! We are gonna fight back."

"I just hope I know what we're doing.'

"Of course, we will. Billy is going to be there!"

"Yeah, but last I checked, there were only five zeonizers. Billy would make him the sixth man and he gave up his to #234.

"Oh." Landra paused and turned her head to the side. Her excitement fell away and now concern appeared.

I walked over to her and placed my hands on her shoulders. "We should be fine, okay? Billy told us what we had to do and ho w to do it. As long as we follow the plan, this should work out."

She nodded with her head down. I could see the sudden reality finally dawn on her. We could be killed tonight. None of us had any idea what would happen and if it would go our way. I had to admit that when I found myself trying to calm Landra down though, I felt a little better myself. Our greatest weapon now was the element of surprise. They had no idea there were four more rangers and no one had seen Zeo Blue in days. Of course there was talk amongst the people as to where or when he would appear again. Several of the people claimed they had seen him flying through the night sky or hear him walking past their shelters. I knew it was their way of keeping hope alive. Seeing it for myself, I knew that I couldn't let that hope slip away when it brought out the best in them.

"We should get going," I said.

Landra nodded. We pressed a few buttons on our zeonizers and teleported. Instantly, we found ourselves in a ditch a few yards away from the factory. When we arrived, everyone was already there. #234 looked extremely tight lipped and his jaw was tightened. #107 had his arms folded in front of him and a little smile on his face when he saw Landra and I arrive. #912 looked up at me and I felt my cheeks get a little warm. I looked away to Billy who was holding a small portable computer in his hands.

"Guys, as I said before, you have to cut the signal at the top level of the factory. There you work your way down to the system's core capacitor. When you shut that down, I'll take it from there."

#107 arched an eyebrow at Billy. "Uh, no offense, Billy, but what are you going to do? Do you have an extra zeonizer?"

Billy smiled while he typed in a few buttons on his computer. "No, but that doesn't mean I don't have a few tricks up my sleeve."

#107 shrugged and proceeded to get behind the rest of us. #912 tapped me on my shoulder and asked, "Do you mind going on top?"

I blinked several times and shook my head. "Uhh, wha-what do you mean?"

"Do you think it sounds like a good idea to start from the top or should we split into groups and take them out?"

"Oh, yeah," I nodded. "Right. Uhh, Billy?"

Billy looked over a bit uneasy about the last minute suggestion and turned his attention back to his screen and asked, "What do you think, Jacob?"

"Uh well…since all the droids might head to the top once we deactivate the radio signal, it wouldn't hurt to have a group taking taking care of the lower level."

Billy stared at me for what seemed like hours and slowly nodded. He cracked a small smile. "All right. That should be fine as long as the communications tower is shut down."

"Right, then," I replied. "#107, #234, and Landra, you keep the lower level busy and head for the power source once the communications tower is down. #912 and I will take care of that."

The group nodded in agreement.

"Jacob," #912 said. "You don't have to call me by my number."

"Oh," I chuckled nervously. "Do—do you have a name?"

"Not really…But my brother used to call me Spara."

I must have looked at her with an odd expression because she replied by saying, "It kind of has to do with birds and how I like them. Something like that."

"I like the name," I said.

"Thanks," she nodded.

I turned to my group and asked #107 and #234 for their names.

"Right," #107 said, "we forgot to introduce ourselves HAHA! How are we going to go into battle and possibly die at each other's side without knowing who the other guy was? HAHA!"

#107 scared me.

"My name is Drome. I kind of like to mess with computers."

"Oh so you know about computers?"

"I know how to destroy one if that's what you mean."

"Good enough," I said.

I turned to #234. His stoicism remained on his face even when I gave him a friendly smile..

"How about you?" I held my hand out to him in hopes that he would feel part of the team.

He shook my hand and responded, "Richter."

"Cool name. Good to have you with us."

He nodded and grunted.

"I can see he's gonna be a real laugh riot, this one," Drome said.

Richter gave him a dead stare and Drome continued to smile as though looking past the passive aggression displayed on his face.

"You should all probably get started," Billy said.

I swallowed a big gulp and exhaled. I turned to my group and asked, "Everyone ready?"

They nodded with a stern determination on their faces.

"Uh guys?" Billy said. "Do you maybe want to voice your cry for action?"

We all stared at Billy with a blank look.

"I'm just saying when my team and I would morph, we would yell, 'It's morphin time.'"

The blank looks continued.

"Do we need to say it?" Richter asked.

"Well no but…nevermind," Billy said, shaking his head.

I shrugged and flicked my wrists to produce my zeonizers. In a swift motion, we extended our right arms then left and crossed our wrists so our zeonizers linked.

We cried out our Zeo numbers and color. Then crossed our hands in front of us and swung them to our sides. A grid of green lines plastered itself onto our bodies and an emerald light scanned our bodies, covering us in our Zeo outfits. The residual light traced itself around the shapes on our masks and micro designs on our gear.

Instantly, I felt a swarm of energy never before felt in my life. Not even as a child with the endurance I had or stamina to run. I felt I could jump over mountains in one haul. My eyesight could target any section or area and my mask would amplify my view. The strength in my body felt so invigorating, I had no doubt that I could lift a car if I wanted.

I turned to my group who had all similar outfits but in their own colors. Landra had become the Yellow Zeo Ranger. Drome was Zeo Ranger Blue. Richter was Zeo Ranger Green, and Spara was Zeo Ranger Pink. We took a second to study our outfits, hands and realized the different shapes we all had on our masks; Spara's mask had a black oval shape, Landra had what appeared to be equal signs, Drome had the inverted triangle, and Richter had a rectangle across his. The shape of mines was in the form of a star.

"All right, let's get to work," I said.

"Right," they replied.

We jumped into the air and from the bottom of our feet, streaks of our own colored energy left a trail behind us. Instantly, Spara and I landed gracefully on the roof control room of the tower with our knee to the ground. The tower reached soaring heights into the grayish sky.

Spara and I jumped down to the control room level and hid behind the corners of the entry way. I snuck a peek at the inside and a sudden there was a sudden flash in my scope of vision. When I looked away, I realized my mask had taken a picture of the area. Two droids stood a few feet away from each other looking over at the mining field below them. They appeared so still you could have sworn they were shut off. A long control panel that ran along the walls with electronics and controls I didn't understand with switches and readout maps of the vicinity. Small heat signatures lit up the area. They kept traces of the workers.

Billy's voice came through at the side of my helmet. "That's impressive information, Jacob."

His voice caught me off guard and looked around myself for a second. Spara noticed this and placed a hand over her helmet's mouthpiece, hiding her chuckle.

At least I got her to laugh.

"The better we know how their operations function, the better we can figure out how to infiltrate and destroy their access of monitoring the people of the land's location.

"Sounds like a plan," I whispered.

Spara whispered from the other corner of the entry and gave me thumbs up. "Good job, Jacob."

"Let's go," I whispered.

We snuck into the entry way and crept up behind the droids. I couldn't understand why it suddenly came to me to do this but I tapped the droid's shoulder instead of deactivating it. It would have been much simpler but too easy.

I needed a test run.

Without hesitation, the droid turned around and swung his blade my way. I ducked and pushed at its chest with an open palm. The droid slid back a few feet away, grasping at the injured area.

"You feel pain I take it. Good."

The other droid raised his blades and swung them down at me but Spara came in at the exact second and blocked the hit with both her arms in an X formation. She kicked the droid in its metallic stomach and followed through with an elbow hit to the gut.

My droid came at me and swung both his blades in a diagonal angle, left to right. I dodged each strike and did what my helmet told me was a roundhouse kick to its back. The droid keeled over and I drop kicked its head to the ground. It fell to the ground and I smashed its head. Embers of electricity glittered around my boot.

I looked over at Spara who was handling herself quite well, almost to the point of enjoying it a little more than I expected. She charged headfirst into the droid's belly and the damn thing stopped her. Her left leg arced over her back like a scorpion's tail and the droid stumbled backwards onto me. I pushed it back towards her and she kicked the droid in its neck, its sides and finally swept it off its feet. She finished it off with a fist through its metal face.

I was impressed and a little turned on to say the least.

Down below, I heard a few attack cries from Richter who sounded pretty furious. I worried a little about Landra until I heard Drome shout out, "Oh my god, did you see his arm come off? Landra, you scare me!"

I chuckled and focused back to the control panels in front of me. Billy began giving me instructions.

"I need you to access the system's mainframe and download all data onto Catastrophe's infrastructure and blueprints."

"On it," I said.

I flicked my wrist and my zeonizer appeared. I inserted it into a slot on the top of the panel. A screen in front of me read, "Access requested. Access granted."

A barrage of folders started flipping through the screens and a symbol kept appearing over and over again; some vertical line with three horizontal ones going through it. The symbol was outlined in gold. I didn't understand its significance but when Billy saw it, I could hear a hushed tone of concern in his voice. I'm not sure, but I thought I heard him whispered, "Gold ranger."

"Billy, you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said a dismissively. "Help the others when you're done."

"Uh right,"

The download ended a few seconds after. Spara and I headed out the control room where I could already hear a few floors down, the bashing and ruckus of the droids being torn apart. We ran down several flights of stairs and the noise grew louder and with more smashing. On the next floor down, bodies of droids had been strewn all over the floor and down the stairs, carpeting the ground for what looked like several flights.

Richter had his hand on the back of one of the droids and slammed its head against the wall repeatedly till it slumped over and fell lifeless to the ground. Landra blocked the attacks from one of the other droids and grabbed one of its arms and pulled it into a sidekick. The droid dropped one of its blades and without missing a beat, Drome came in to catch it before it fell to the ground and lifted the blade up and sliced right through the droid's neck.

"I like hitting things," he said innocently.

"Everything go okay?" Landra asked.

"Yeah, we just gotta destroy the core capacitor then we're home free."

A thundering scratch of a voice yelled at us from several stories up. "Not free, unfortunately!"

We all looked up and saw a huge, bulky figure descending towards us. All of us leapt out of the way as it landed where we all previously had been standing. A billow of debris shot up from the ground and made visibility impossible.

"I have been searching for so long to find the Zeo crystals, now only to see that they were taken by the likes of all of you."

"Who is it?" Landra shouted.

The dust settled and we witnessed something that didn't appear human or even robotic but more so a combination of the two. The figure had a bulbous shape to it and appeared to be enveloped by so much circuitry. Its face or what was left of it was partly human though most of it was covered in scar tissue and stretches of digitized wire that pulsated with light. Its legs reminded me of tree trunks and its boots elevated the thing's height by several feet which was enough to tower over us.

"What the hell is that?" Drome cried.

Out of all of us, I could hear Richter growling from under his mask, almost as though he was seething with rage.

"It's Ruiner," he said. "This thing…used to be my father."


	6. Chapter 6: All Part of the Plan

Hey guys, here is the new chapter to Regeneration. Hope you like it and I should have another one up next week. Comments are more than welcome. Thanks!

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN POWER RANGERS. I JUST LIKE TO WRITE ABOUT THEM!

We stood there in our attack positions as the knowledge of what Richter had just told us didn't even begin to sink in as of yet. It disturbed me to see that the pile of monstrous metal in front of us used to be his own father.

The abomination before us took advantage of our momentary lapse and sprung out a compartment from both of its arms. A long barrel shot out and Ruiner aimed the business end right at us. A woman's soft voice from my visor's alerted me to the oncoming attack.

"Suggestion," the voice said, "jump."

All of us at once jumped over Ruiner as the blasts obliterated the spots where we had stood. We landed behind Ruiner and took our defensives.

"Hey being that he used to be your dad and all," Drome said, "would it be all right if I… I don't know; hit him since he wants to kill us?"

Richter unsheathed his Zeo blade and ran forward towards Ruiner, bellowing a battle cry.

Drome and the rest of us did the same. "When in Gajirome," Drome said.

We followed suit behind Richter. He squng his blade down over Ruiner's head but the titan pushed the attack to the side and slashed diagonally across Richter's chest with the metal ends of his fingers. Sparks of ember jumped from Richter's suit and he was pushed off to the side. A ravenous smile came over Ruiner's face as we tried attacking at once. Landra attempted at slashing the legs but the attack was dodged. Drome tried impaling Ruiner's circuit board but he moved too quickly for a direct attack. Spara backhanded her blade across Ruiner's neck and struck him enough so that he faltered. I jumped at the opening and hacked Ruiner's arm which barely scratched the circuits from his body. He grunted in pain. Smoke and oil hissed from the wound.

"The power you all possess is useless against me. I cannot be stopped by humans!"

"I thought _I_ had an ego," Landra said from behind me.

I swung my blade, attempting to cut off Ruiner's oversized cranium when he ducked quicker than I could blink. He followed up with an uppercut to my chin that rung my brain and nearly dislocated my jaw were it not for the helmet. I flew back and landed on top of Richter who eased my fall by grabbing me before I hit the ground.

"He knows what were gonna do before we do it."

Billy's voice came into our helmets. "You guys, reinforcement droids are coming your way. I—I don't know how they knew to send more. You have to get out of there immediately."

"Not until we take out the power source," I said. "Listen, I'll distract him while you go inside."

"No," Richter said, motioning his hand in front of my chest. "I'll hold him off. You go in there and take out the core."

"I'll stick with him," Landra said.

"So will I," Spara added.

There was no time to argue. Strategically, it was better to have more up against Ruiner, even if Richter was his son.

"Fine, Drome and I will destroy the core."

"Go now," Richter said. He raised his blade as did Landra and Spara, standing behind him on either side. They sprinted forth and battled Ruiner who cackled with an electronic tone. Drome and I ran around the fight and made our way to the entrance of the core room. The dial pad on the side of the door flickered asking for authorization. I smashed my fist into the pad and it crackled and flickered sparks. The door parted in the middle and Drome and I stepped inside. Once we did, the door behind us shut and we found ourselves in a room a lot bigger than it looked on the outside.

The core's room was shaped like an orb with its walls made up of gleaming silver metal with circuits blinking and beeping all around us. Our steps echoed inside the large sphere. The bridge we were on led straight down to a white containment unit with a pole that stretched high into the four story ceiling. A control panel was on either sides of the unit along with two poles each roughly five feet tall in front of the glass pane of the containment unit. Inside the unit, I saw a green pulsating light that hovered in mid air between two rods barely touching it. My guess was these were keeping the light energy in place. Billy had instructed us beforehand to not touch the energy since it was highly unstable to grasp.

"Billy, we're in front of the core. How do we destroy the unit?"

"Okay, you see those poles on either sides of the unit? They are covering the glass pane of the energy."

"Yeah," I said, "I see them."

"Disengage these bars."

Drome and I looked at one another and shrugged. We unsheathed our blades and struck across the poles. They hadn't even moved when our blades sliced through them. The holographic grid in front of the pane disintegrated. The top part of the poles slid off at a diagonal angle and fell to the floor.

"That was easy," Drome said. "Are all of our missions gonna be this quick."

Billy did not respond. All we heard was the typing of his keyboard.

"Okay, now you have to open the glass pane and set the detonation device inside. Just throw it in there and close the glass pane to ensure the light of energy receives the full impact. Once the detonation device is inside the unit, the light of the energy should change immediately mixing in with the devices own radioactive chemicals that should ensure it is properly destroyed."

Drome grabbed the device from behind his belt and pressed a few buttons. A tiny screen on the device read 5:00 min. Drome threw the device inside the containment unit. The device made a loud clanging noise and then suddenly stopped. Even with our helmets on, I can tell that Drome and I exchanged confused glances as to what that sound was all about.

"Uhh, what was that noise?"

"I'm gonna see what happened," Drome said. He walked up to the containment unit and was about to lean in when I grabbed his shoulder.

"Whoa, Drome, what are you thinking? You can't put your head in there. "

"I gotta see if the device is okay. Look at the energy light. It didn't change colors. Something must be wrong and I have to fix it otherwise this mission is a bust."

The doors of the room banged so loud with a tremendous thud that the metal on the walls shook and debris cascaded to the ground.

"What was that?" I asked.

"I don't know. But we gotta get out of here now. "

Drome leaned into the compartment opening and I pulled him back out. "Drome, come on, it should work."

"I gotta make sure!" he said.

The dome began to tremble all around us. The doors parted behind us and the rest of the team came in running. I had to grab the rails to the side of me to keep my balance.

"He GREW!" Landra cried.

"What?" I said.

"He grew and tore off the top of this place!" Spara said," It's gonna topple over, we have to go."

"Not until I grab—AHHH!" Drome screamed in agony and we turned to see his body keeled over inside the containment unit opening, convulsing erratically.

"Drome!" I pulled him out and laid him on the ground. The rest huddled around me, asking if he was all right. Drome shook his head from side to side and groaned.

"Drome, Drome, say something to me," I cried.

A shower of metal panes fell over us. The room quaked with such violence that I started feeling pressure on my temples.

"Lift him up," I yelled. "We gotta get him out of here."

"Guys," Spara said, "the light in the containment unit changed. The bomb is on. That's good, right?"

My eyes stared at the light with a newfound fear. "It's not good if we can't get out in time. Help me with Drome."

A ray of light had shone through the collapsed ceiling. I brought one of Drome's arms around over my neck while Richter grabbed the other arm. We sprinted towards the parted doors. Suddenly darkness engulfed itself all around us. A shadowy figure covered the light so much; I thought it had automatically become night time in seconds.

We turned and gazed up at the immense tower that was Ruiner. His stature made one of the girls scream and I wasn't sure which one it had been.

"You will give me the Zeo crystals," Ruiner yelled, looking down at us. "And then, I will kill you all with your own power!"

He raised his fist high up into the sick gray sky, ready to slam it down upon us.

"Oh no," I whispered.


End file.
